A reason to finally accept that friend request from your mom
The 8/26/2011 New York Times article “Half of America is Using Social Networks” by Somini Sengupta explores the recent increase in adults in America using Facebook. Fifty percent of American adults report that they are active Facebook users—up 45% from 2005 (just six years ago!) when the same survey was conducted. The article also highlights that despite dramatic growth in the number of adult Facebook users, Facebook is still predominately used by young people: 83% of people surveyed in the 18-29 age bracket said they use social networking sites. Even more specifically, 18-29 year old females appear to be the Facebook power users, with 89% of this bracket saying they are users of social networking sites. Although social networking sites have experienced tremendous growth in American society, there is still room for expansion: the majority of internet users still go online primarily to check their email and make search queries.
This article relates to the material we have discussed in class regarding the strength of weak ties. We can reasonably assume that the 45% of American adults who joined Facebook in the past 6 years has created many more local bridges in a predominately youth-dominated network.
For example, suppose a college student’s Facebook friends consist mostly of people his or her own age—old friends from high school, new friends from college, coworkers, and the like. Now, suppose this college student’s mother is one of the 45% of American adults who got a Facebook in the past 6 years. The mother’s network consists of people in her own generation—old friends from high school, her brothers and sisters, coworkers, etc. These networks appear to be entirely separate, until the college student accepts a friend request from her mother. Now, there is a local bridge between the college student’s network of young adults and the mother’s network of mature adults.
As we discussed in class, this bridge may be very helpful for the college student, as we tend to receive new information—e.g., about jobs opportunities—from “acquaintances” or people outside our immediate social circle. It is very possible that one of the adults in the mother’s network may have knowledge of a job opportunity that the college student would be interested in. Likewise, this bridge may prove to be very helpful for the network of mature adults: the article mentioned that many social networking adults do so in order to obtain dependable and trustworthy childcare. It is very possible that one of the college students in the younger network may be seeking a childcare position.
So, essentially, the fact that an older generation is joining the social networking community will likely result in a symbiotic relationship between the younger and older generations based on the inherent strength of the weak ties between them.
Link to article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/half-of-america-is-using-social-networks/?scp=2&sq=social%20networking&st=cse